Jentezen Franklin - What To Do When You Are Weak
I'm going to speak to you today from 2 Samuel 3, and it's a message that I've never preached before, but I do believe that it's going to speak to your heart today. I know it did mine. And there is this verse in 2 Samuel 3:39. David said: "I am weak today, though anointed king". Sometimes, we fail to realize that when we are at our weakest, we're still anointed. David was secretly anointed to be king of Israel by Samuel, but he had not yet worn the crown on his head. As a matter of fact, for a long time, he was in exile, running from king Saul. Hosted and haunted and tormented by a remorseful, cruel king, who was trying to kill him from jealousy. A band of men gathered in an area of Israel called Ein Gedi. And there, in a cave, he began to cause these men to become mighty men, mighty warriors.
Finally, the day came when king Saul and his son, Jonathan, was killed in a battle. David didn't have to kill Saul. There was another battle that took place with Saul's enemies, on Mount Gilboa, and there, Saul, the king of Israel, the first king of Israel, died, and his son tragically died with him. And so, then, Israel reached a point where those of the southern tribes, there were two tribes, follow me just a moment. The northern tribes and the southern tribes, there was two kingdoms. Israel was not one kingdom, they were divided, like we were during the Civil War. And there you have the southern tribes, and they anointed David as their king. The northern tribes anointed another man as their king. And both of them had war chiefs of military. David's military leader was Joab, and the other king's military leader was a guy named Abner.
Now, watch this. Abner and his king got in an argument, and he secretly goes over to David, and he makes a deal with him, and he says, "Israel ought to be one nation, it ought not to be divided". "So what I wanna do is I wanna pledge to you all of the military support, and we will just push him out of the way. And, David, you can finally fulfill the prophecy that is over your life, and you can become the king of Israel, not half of Israel, but all of Israel". Finally, in that moment, David thought, this is it. This is what I've been dreaming for. This is what I've been believing for. This is what I've been anointed for. This is all that I have gone through, these many years, running and hiding and living in exile, and living in caves like some kind of animal.
Now, this is my big moment. But the Scripture said that Joab, David's man of war, had a grudge against Abner. And right before the deal was sealed, right before the deal to take over the other part of Israel and have one king was finalized, the Bible said that Joab, because Abner had accidentally killed his brother, had unforgiveness, and took Abner, and slew him. And when he did, the whole thing blew up. Suddenly, everything that he had dreamed of, and everything that David thought would happen, it fell to pieces. And in that moment, David realizes, it's not going to happen. And in that moment, his dream seems to be destroyed, and his life seems to be right back where it started from, a big mess, a big confusion, a big division. And David made this statement, that is when he makes this statement, "I am this day weak, yet still anointed king".
Did you know that it's possible to be weak, and still be anointed king? The Bible declares the royal priesthood of the believer. The Bible said in 1 Peter 2:9, that we are a royal priesthood. Those of us who have put our faith in Jesus Christ, we are a royal priesthood. The Bible said in Ephesians 2:6 that we sit in heavenly places with Christ Jesus. We are a royal priesthood. The Bible said in Revelation 1:6 that He has raised us to be kings and priests in His Kingdom. God says and declares that the Christian is an anointed king. But notice that it's possible that God's people can be weak, and still be anointed. They can be weak, and still have royal blood in their veins. They can be weak, and still have the authority of the Kingdom, and what a contrast, weakness and divine anointing stand together. I'm telling you today that the Bible is full of people with little faith, with ready-to-quit kind of faith, despondent people, much afraid people. They were anointed people, but they were weak on particular days. And God didn't cast 'em away, and God didn't give up on 'em.
Notice, when David became weak. He felt his weakness, because he was in a new position. He felt his weakness, because he was about to take over the nation of Israel, and when he faced something and had an opportunity like he never had, in a new place, in a new position, he said, "I am weak this day". When I look at the responsibility, when I look at the opportunity, when I look at this new place and this new position, and I see this situation, I feel so inadequate that I am weak this day, though I'm anointed to do this thing. You know, whenever you make a change in life, whenever you're given a new set of duties, or a new challenge, or a new place, or a new position, your flesh and your own mind will say, "You're not good enough, you're not strong enough, you can't do this. You're too weak". On the eve of your greatest triumph, the enemy will always come and try to make you feel like you're a nobody and a nothing. But I wanna remind you that this story says that it's possible for us to be two things at the same time.
I'm about to preach, 'cause I feel this. I'm telling you, it's possible to be weak, it's possible to feel overwhelmed, outnumbered, out-resourced. It's possible to feel discouraged. It's possible to be going through something that you've never gone through, and if you were to be honest, would say, "I am weak this day, yet, I'm still anointed king". I still reign with Christ Jesus. The Kingdom of God is one of opposites. It's possible in the Kingdom that you can be poor, and yet rich. The man who lives in a mud hut is more wealthy than the Fortune-500 companies. It's possible to have joy in the midst of sorrow. It's possible to have peace in the middle of the storm. The opposite of big is small, somebody would say. The opposite of tall is short. The opposite of hot is cold, somebody would say, and you can't have cold and hot at the same time, you can't have big and small, you can't have tall and short at the same time. But in 2 Corinthians 12:10, Paul said: "I take pleasure in," my weaknesses: "My infirmities, my reproaches, my necessities, my persecutions, for Christ's sake".
Watch this: "For when I am weak," right then, not when I get out of this valley, not when I get over this trial, not when I come out on the other side: "For when I am weak, then," he puts the time on it. "When I am weak," David said, "I am this day weak," "Then am I strong," "Yet I'm anointed". I want you to know the moment of your worst dilemma, in the moment of your worst trial, in the moment of your worst valley, in the moment of your lowest feeling down and out and defeated and beat-up, God said, "When I am weak, I am strong". "I am weak this day," David said, "Yet I'm still anointed". I wanna encourage you today, that when you understand who you are, you're an anointed king, and who your God is, you don't have to fear the enemy. Just when David thought the battle was over, just when he thought peace was coming finally, just when he reached a place of the promise being fulfilled, it was in that moment that he felt his weakest. It was in that moment when he felt like that he couldn't hardly go on.
You may be weak, but you're still anointed. David, basically, was asking and saying and presenting, he was presenting an attitude that you can take when you are feeling overwhelmed by what you're facing. He said, "If I'm king," in so many words, "Why am I so weak"? If I'm a child of God, why am I weak? If I'm a child of God, why am I sick? If I'm a child of God, why am I suffering? If I'm a child of God, why are my children driving me crazy? If I'm a child of God, why is my marriage almost on the rocks, somebody's asking. If I'm a child of God, why do I have financial needs that are scaring me to death? I wanna flip that around today, and say, you know, you may be going through the fire, you may be sick. You may be in financial need, you may be weak, but you're still a child of God. That's the point. I'm weak, but I'm still a child of God. I may be sick, but I'm still a child of God. I may have financial needs and facing a crisis in my family, but I'm still anointed king. And that's a powerful thing, I may be down and persecuted, but I am anointed.
Listen, this is what I want you to get, this is a big point right here. You might ought to write this one down. You must define yourself not by what's going on around you, but by what's going on inside of you. Because I may be weak looking at everything around me, but I am anointed on the inside of me. You know, the devil loves to steal our identity. They have companies that do nothing but try to ensure people that their identity will not be stolen on the internet. There are people who steal people's homes, and they steal their documents, and steal their credit cards. It's called identity theft. Satan was the first person to ever, a spirit to ever, steal identity, try to.
In Isaiah 14:13, he said: "I will ascend above the throne of God, I will be like the Most High God". I will set up my congregations. I'm gonna steal God's identity, and I'll be God. And you know, the devil wants to steal your identity, because you've been anointed king. You're not to just allow the enemy to beat you up, and cause you to lose hope. You've been anointed king. You may be weak, but you're anointed king. Your flesh may be weak, but the One in you is greater. And the way that the enemy wants to steal your identity is not so he can use your identity, it's so you won't use your identity. He wants you to walk through life, not knowing that you're still anointed king. Just because you've gone through loss, just because you've gotten laid off, just because you're a single mother that has needs, and you don't know what you're gonna do, you may be weak, but you are still anointed. Hallelujah. I may be weak, I'm going through something, but it doesn't change who I am. What I'm going through does not change who I am. I am an anointed king. No weapon formed will prosper. I shall arise again.
The world's getting crazy. We've never seen anything like this. We feel so weak as a nation, America is weak in our economy and weak in our love for one another and weak in unity, and people ripping each other to pieces, even on the internet, the body of Christ, and Christians, even in this church, just ripping each other to pieces. We're weak, but I wanna remind the devil, yeah, we're weak, but the blood of Jesus can bring quick healing, and we are still anointed, and we are the church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Hallelujah. "Well, Pastor, it seems like the devil's just getting things and times are getting worse and worse". Well, the Bible said they would. Somebody said, "Well, the devil's just getting more and more powerful". And they said the way that you know that is you read in Genesis, and he was a snake, he came as a snake. And then, you read over in Peter, and Peter said he's like a roaring lion, so, he grew from a snake to a roaring lion. Then, you go to the last book of the Bible, the Book of Revelation, and it calls him a dragon.
So the devil, as time is progressing, has moved from a serpent, to a lion, to a dragon, in the end times. And you and I are not fighting the snake, and we're not fighting the lion. Unfortunately, we're feeling the breath of the Antichrist. We're dealing with the spirit of Antichrist like never before. You can see it all getting ready. The things that we never dreamed, we're dealing with the dragon, but watch this. I wanna give you something in the Word of God, in Psalms 91:13. This is what it says. It says: "For thou shalt tread on the adder," that's the snake. Then he said the lion, and the dragon, hallelujah. I don't care what the devil is doing. We're gonna tread on the serpent, we're gonna tread on the lion, and we're gonna tread on the dragon. You may be weak, but you are anointed. I've still got my faith. I've still got my praise. I've still got the Holy Ghost. I've still got the blood of Jesus, the name of Jesus, and the word of Almighty God.
David said, "I'm not just weak," but he said, "I'm weak," I love this, "This day". Did you catch it? Look at that verse again. He said, "I'm weak this day," implying, devil, you caught me on a bad day. He never said he was weak when he went out to fight Goliath. That was a good day. He never said he, "This day am I weak," when he was in the cave. But for some reason, David was so discouraged and defeated that he admitted, "I am," but he put these words in there, "This day weak". It's almost like he's saying, "I just wanna put you on warning, devil. Weeping may endure for the night," you know he wrote those words? That's in the Book of Psalms, "Weeping may endure for the night, but joy," this day, I'm a little weak, but don't you think that this day is how my future's gonna be. Don't you think that this day is how I'm going to always be. This won't last forever.
Do you hear me, devil? We may be weak, our nation may be trembling, people may be watching the death rate go up, all of that. We may be weak, but we are this day anointed. This day does not define who you are. You're still anointed king. So if you're going through a struggle, I want you to know that you're anointed. The devil is messing with you. You're still anointed. If people are laughing at you, you're still anointed. If somebody broke your heart, you're still anointed. If your family's kids are acting crazy, you're still anointed. Your marriage is on the rocks, but you're still, you can't quit, you can't give up. I am weak this day, but there's another day coming. There's a change coming.
Yet, I am anointed king, David declared, 2 Samuel 3:39. You ought to write that one down. And when you go to work tomorrow, when you face fear, when you are dealing with situations that you never dreamed you would be dealing with in 2020, you need to open your mouth, and when you feel overcome with fear and worry, discouragement, just say, "I am weak this day. I'm not afraid of it, because when I'm weak, then, right then, God comes with strength. Then, am I strong". It's His strength now. Even weak faith is okay, sometimes. It's enough to carry you through. Say, "I'm still anointed". Say it again, "I'm still anointed". Say it right there in your home, say it right there in that small group. Say it right there in that hospital room, say it right there in that sick bed. Say it right there when you've been laid off. Say, "I'm still anointed". I may be weak, but I'm still anointed.